On Saturday, shortly after Tokyo was awarded the opportunity to host the 2020 Olympic Games, the head of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) released a rare English message addressing concerns about concerns about radiation at the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant.

“We deeply apologize for the greater anxiety caused by the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station,” TEPCO President Naomi Hirose said in a video message posted on its home page.

The ongoing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant had cast a pall over Tokyo’s bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Speaking in English, Hirose said: ”Supported by the Japanese government . . . all of us at TEPCO will strive relentlessly to control the contaminated water. We believe that the impact on the surrounding waters is limited to the area within the port of the power plant. And that judging by the results of our monitoring three kilometers offshore there has been no impact on the water or the wider ocean.”

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The artwork in the header, titled "JAPAN:Nuclear Power Plant," is copyright artist Tomiyama Taeko.

The photograph in the sidebar, of a nuclear power plant in Byron, Illinois, is copyright photographer Joseph Pobereskin (http://pobereskin.com/)

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